When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me".... Erma Bombeck

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Unsewing and Gardening... two of my favorites!!!!

Stephanie's Quilt.

Another rainy day and I so wanted to get out in my garden... hahahahaha! Seriously... I love the rain it gives me just one more excuse to stay in and sew. At our Nifty's potluck the other night my secret sister gave me a box of candles. The scent was called "Warm Woods". The note said, " These candles are meant to bring the outdoors into your sewing room, when you just can't tear yourself away from your machine." I suspect the candles won't last too long...

Yesterday was a great sew day. I finally got my Nutcracker all together and today I am putting borders on and it will go up on my machine. Hopefully by next week this time, it will no longer be a UFO. I am very excited. Its always great to finish something because it means one of two things... you can finish something else (blah) or start something new (which I do anyway... hence my piles of UFO's) (pictured: Sue Garman's Nutcracker quilt)

Being the Notion Nanny, I am always on the look out for using new and exciting notions. Yesterday I tried Alex Anderson's new 4-in-1 Essential Sewing Tool. The tool looked very interesting and I decided I had to have one (as usual), but I am afraid it is not one of my top thirty favorite tools. First thing, it is large and a little clunky although it is a nice weight compared to it's size. I was very surprised about that. There are 4 tools, which individually work very well. The seam ripper is a Bernina seam ripper and I have found them very sharp, but they do eventually dull. From my own past experiences, I figure their life is about 2 years in most cases. I wondered, what use it would be to have this big tool, with a dull seam ripper in it. It doesn't seem to be something you can take out and replace. So that was a major strike 1. Also, it is made of wood and I noticed one end doesn't stay on very well. I suspect over time the pieces will not fit together too well and I will have 3 separate tools instead of one. Strike 2. In my defence I checked out a few others I had ordered and they all had the same problem. And the cost is somewhat significant although not a lot considering what you get in return. So I couldn't really give that a strike. I like that you can use the end to press with, that will give me more time at the sewing machine, when I don't have to jump up to press ALL the time. I am not a stiletto person, I use my pins a lot to guide fabric under my pressure foot and when I am at the ironing board, I like to use my nail file... but I am going to give it a whirl... no strike there either. the turner looks very useful and I can see it being useful, but I don't do much in quilting that I turn points etc., so it might be one of those things that, although useful, it might be more in the way than useful. But still no strike...

So with only 2 strikes against it, it will stick around and I will use the 4-in-1 tool for a while, take it to camp and use it there, (three less tools to pack) but my Clover Seam Ripper has no fear of being replaced any time soon.

You can find both these tools - Alex Anderson's 4-in-1 tool and my very favorite buddy... the Clover Seam Ripper at my store: